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HIA hotspots report signals further momentum in home building

Housing Industry Association presents the new HIA/ACI Population and
Residential Building Hotspots Report, which indicates the dominance of Western
Australia on the latest league table, followed by Victoria and New South Wales.

According to HIA Economist Diwa Hopkins, the national new home building
recovery gathered full steam last year, showing much stronger results than the
previous year. Six of the top twenty Hotspots were in Western Australia,
followed by Victoria with five and New South Wales with four.

The Australian Capital Territory retained its position as Australia’s
number one building and population Hotspot, specifically the territory’s South
West area. The Northern Territory’s Palmerston South area came in second while
the suburb of Crace in the ACT was home to Australia’s number three Hotspot.

Ms Hopkins notes that the latest Hotspots report also provides a
Building Momentum shortlist of regions where further upward momentum in
building activity is expected this year. Strong potential is evident for local
areas in NSW in particular, while WA and Victoria also feature quite broadly. However,
the ACT, which has been strongly represented among the Nation’s Top 20 Hotspots
in recent years, is unlikely to figure in next year’s list.

A ‘Hotspot’ is defined as a local area where population growth exceeds
the national rate and where the value of approved residential building work is
in excess of $100 million. Local areas featuring on the Building Momentum
shortlist have demonstrated consistently strong rates of population growth in
recent years in addition to an increase in the estimated value of new home
building work approved in 2014/15.

Ms Hopkins concludes that Australia will have another strong year of new
home building activity, although this growth will be more concentrated in the
medium/high density market rather than the detached and multi-unit housing
segment, which saw relatively even growth balance last year.